Lost Radio, instrument lights and maybe other stuff

[NevP]

HI,

I have a Oct 03 206 Alure on the drive home tonight, I lost all of my instrument lights, inc the centre display, the radio and maybe other stuff as well. The handbook says its the 20A fuse number 4. This fuse is OK but the car does odd things when it's removed. The windscreen wipers started and an audio alarm of some sort beeped at me. Any ideas? The car is new to me only picked it up on Friday and it's to dark to look on a school night lol.

[NevP]

Sorry, I should have added that straight after the loss of the radio and lights there was a faint smell of burning. lasting only seconds. Update... Because it was not as dark coming into work this morning I have also noticed that I have no instruments working at all. All of them seem to be stuck at the point when the power to these failed. I have no warning lights no rear screen heater, no display lights, no audio although strangely it will let me eject a CD. I have no gauges working these also are also at the point of the last time they were working. Any help at this point would be welcome. Thank you.

[Capncol]

The burning smell is a bit ominous. Carefully check the fuses then the fuse box under the dash for any obvious signs of melting. If that's OK then you need to carefully inspect the wiring harness, but be warned- this is not really a DIY job unless you are quite experienced in dash removal and chasing wiring faults. You need to be aware of the battery disconnect / BSI precautions to be taken (all available on this site)

[NevP]

Thank you Capncol for this. I have read and re-read the battery disconnect/BSI precautions and won't go there unless I need to. Someone asked me to today if the Radio was a standard fit, it is not and while I have only had the car for a week I had noticed the the radio does not switch off when I take the key out. It has been suggested that the feed for thsi might have been taken from the ignition, is this likely? I have not checked this fuse but if it has blown would the car still start?

[Capncol]

If you have the owners handbook, it will list the fuses and what they protect. If you haven't got one you can download it off this site. Search for owners handbook and you will find the link.

As it's a non std radio unit, I would start by pulling that out and seeing what's behind. I have seen some criminal wiring jobs before and it may well be that something has shorted out. Lighting fuses are separate to engine control fuses so yes engine would run.

[NevP]

A huge thank you Capncol, I found the blown fuse but removed the radio before putting a new one in. The unit seems to be OK, the wiring is sound even though they have picked up a live from the wrong place. Replaced the fuse and everything now works. Thank you.

[GrandadMonkey]

Well done Col.